Intertwined
by MidnightBlueDragon
Summary: Their lives are like ribbons that are twisted and united by life-defining events.They can no longer be ripped apart. If one is torn away, the others fall apart. And it's not over until the last one is ripped away.Starring:Tim,Jason, and other young heroes
1. Beginning

**Disclaimer: I do not own anything!**

**IMPORTANT: This is a completely different universe (although a lot of the same events happen, just a little differently and from a different point of view).**

**Now, enjoy and tell me what you think. Don't forget to review!**

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><p>Chapter 1: Beginning<p>

August 23

It was bright Gotham City morning for most people. But for the child population of Gotham, it was a dark, depressing morning as it was the first day of school and kids of all ages were struggling out of bed, shaking off the summer attitudes they had developed to trudge to school and a start a whole new school year.

"I'll pick you up at 3:30. Have fun, kiddo," Jack Drake waved through the car window to his son who was slipping the straps of his backpack on to his back while staring blankly at the middle school before him. The eleven year old ripped his gaze off of the school after swallowing the saliva that had clumped up in the back his throat and turned to his dad with a weak, fake smile.

"Bye, dad, drive safely," Tim Drake waved shortly before turning to face the school again. Behind him, he heard his father's car speed off and another car take its place. He heard feet jump onto the concrete from the cars behind him and kids of all ages push past him, laughing and chatting with their friends as they made their way to the school. Feeling intimidated by the sheer number of people he did not know and by the size of his new school, he let out a deep sigh and joined the crowds of other students as they made their way to their first day of school.

Tim expertly maneuvered through the crowds, careful not to bump into anyone. However, it was easier said than done and he ended colliding with a large figure. The force of the impact sent the small boy flying backwards, landing him on the ground. He looked up to see an older boy glowering down at him. "Watch it shrimp," he growled as he bent down and grabbed Tim by the collar, bringing him close to him. As he spoke, Tim tried not to flinch at the boy's morning breath. "Who do you think you are? Listen, brat, I run this school. And you cross me one more time and I'll make sure you won't live to see the next time. Got it?"

The younger boy fervently nodded his head, feeling fear creep into him. He was released and his back hit the ground.

"Good, now get lost. Your ugly face is wrecking my morning," the older boy stood up and his crew crowded around him, laughing. Tim quickly scrambled up and rushed down the hall, away from the bully. As he literally ran away, his eyes caught the glance of a blonde girl who was leaning against a row of lockers. He had expected pity or sorrow or disgust but the brief moment that he looked into her striking blue eyes, he didn't see anything.

That was stretch, although her glance was empty, there seemed to be something behind it all. Something thoughtful was there but the moment was over before Tim could diverge into the subject any further. As he walked towards his homeroom, he focused on the look in her eyes.

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><p>Spending the rest of the day avoiding older kids, kids his age, and basically just about everyone else, Tim had managed to get through his first day with less pain that he had initially expected. Nevertheless, when the bell rung, Tim flew out of the classroom and through the hallways to the front door. As he escaped the building, feeling a new meaning to the word freedom, Tim took a deep breath and scanned the cars for his dad's car. He felt people push past him, laughing and discussing how well their first day had gone. Tim couldn't disagree any more as he began walking towards his dad's car, which he had spotted moments before.<p>

He tried to keep his eyes on the concrete but couldn't help looking up to catch the eye of the blonde girl from before. She shared his glance boldly and then right before he looked away, the sides of her lips curled up into a small smile.

Tim was shocked at the measly smile. Before he could reciprocate the smile, she turned to walk away to her car. But for the first time that day, Tim actually felt a bit of happiness flood into him. Maybe school wasn't as bad as he thought it was going to be.

Then again, he had been wrong before…

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><p>September 13<p>

Two weeks had passed since school started. Two weeks Tim had suffered through all types of problems that ranged from cranky teachers to bullies. He hadn't talked to the blonde girl but had noticed that she was in a couple of his classes. So for the last weeks, he amused himself on figuring out who this girl was. He knew her name but that was about it. Other than that holding his attention, the only other thing that even slightly interested him was his English teacher, who was both scary and nice at the same time.

And now on this pleasant morning, Tim made the usual route to school from his dad's car to the main building. He was lost in his thoughts, trying to remember if he did all his homework, and so he wasn't watching where he was going, colliding hard with something. It felt like bad déjà vu as he fell backwards.

"What the…?" He heard a very familiar voice growl. Oh please no, Tim thought as he looked up to see the bully from the first day looking down on him. "What did I tell you, brat?" He cracked his knuckles and Tim sucked in a deep breath, afraid that if he let it go then the punch would come flying at him.

However, the punch never did come. Tim cracked an eye open and saw that a hand had blocked the way of the punch. He followed the hand up to the elbow then the arm to see the owner of the hand, a redhead who was glaring at the older boy. He shoved the older boy backwards. "Hey, what's your problem?" the older boy sputtered as he balanced himself.

The redhead shrugged, cracking his knuckles. As he did so, the older boy's friends surrounded them. The two younger boys swallowed but the redhead didn't look like was going to surrender any time soon as he lunged at the first boy. Meanwhile, Tim ducked a punch from another boy and felt one hit his shoulder hard.

Meanwhile a couple feet away, a black haired eighth grader watched the scene, deciding on what he should do. He was about to go intervene and stop the fight when he noticed a blonde girl approach the fight and so he decided to just keep watching. As he watched, amused, a blacked haired boy and blonde girl his age walked up to either side of him. They each gave him a look before turning to the scene in front of them in silence.

Tim attempted to dodge another blow from one of the older boys but tripped backwards. He felt something hard collide with his left side and he let out a shriek of pain. Then he heard a thump and he saw that the red head had fallen next to him. The older boys loomed over them with smirks on their lips when they heard a high pitched shriek. Struggling to sit up, his sides still burning in pain, he saw the ring leader doubled over in pain with his arms wrapped around his abdomen and a girl standing next to him, arms crossed.

Getting a better look, Tim realized that it was the girl from before who was standing there, tapping her black boots on the concrete, impatiently. Then he heard her speak, "I'm waiting, Jumbo, call your idiots off. Or do you want another kick? This time, I'll aim lower."

The older boy grunted but managed to get out, "Leave the brats alone. Let's get out of here." His friends helped him up while the rest reluctantly moved away from Tim and the red head, passing the blonde cautiously. She merely raised an eyebrow at them before shaking her head.

"You three!" the ones left, the blonde, the red head, and Tim, turned to the shrill voiced teacher. "To the counselor's office now!"

"Wait a minute, did you not just see anything that happened?" the red head demanded as he jumped up and Tim wondered how he could still move after the beating that they just got. "Those guys started it!"

"That's not what I saw!" She screamed. "Now to his office now!"

Tim stood up and brushed the dirt off of his pants before slowly making his way to the building. The red head followed after shooting the teacher a glare. However, the blonde still stood in the spot that she previously did, refusing to move.

"That goes for you, too, young lady," the teacher turned her focus to the girl. Tim stopped mid step as did the other boy and they turned around to watch the blonde who was standing her ground and the teacher who looked like she was going to blow up anytime soon.

The girl just shrugged after a while, muttered a "Whatever", and striding towards the building, past the other two boys.

The black haired boy watched all this and smirked wickedly. "There's nothing that I like better than watching a girl beat up a dude." He turned to the blonde next to him who had a worried expression on her face and grinned at her.

"What?" She demanded, feeling his gaze on her. He just shrugged as the boy next to him piped up.

"How come you never beat anyone up, Kara?" He inquired with a smirk.

"Shut up," she narrowed her eyes at him.

"Make me," he taunted. "That's right, you can't."

"Adrian, Kara, break it up," the first boy ordered, chuckling. "Why can't you two ever get along?"

"I hate aliens," Adrian shrugged earning a powerful punch from the blonde. "Okay, that hurt. Jason, call off your alien girlfriend."

"She's/He's not my girlfriend/boyfriend," they replied at the same time.

"Riiiiiight." Adrian rolled his eyes.

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><p><strong>Hope you enjoyed! <strong>

**A/N: All the characters (with the exceptions of the bullies, teacher, and Adrian) are real.**

**REVIEW AND TELL ME WHAT YOU THINK!**


	2. Counselor

**Disclaimer: I do not own anything.**

**Here's chapter 2! Enjoy and tell me what you think !**

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><p>+++September 13+++<p>

Sitting patiently in one of the chairs of the waiting room that was just outside the counselors' offices, Tim tried to keep his attention focused on the room around him and not the pain that he felt all over his body. The waiting area was small with three, old fashioned wooden chairs on one side and three of the same chairs on the opposing wall. There was a small table with educational magazines scattered on it in the middle of the floor. In one of the corner, there was a water dispenser and next to that was a coffee machine along with cups, sugar, creamer, and just about everything someone would need for good cup of coffee. The cream colored wall was covered by a few paintings from past students and a poster of Uncle Sam. Tim raised an eyebrow as he read the message under the pointing Uncle Sam: "We want YOU to go to college!"

"Lame," the red head commented as if he was following Tim's glance. "Who the heck comes up with such a lame poster?" Tim turned his attention to his left where the red head sat one seat away from him. He was slouching in his chair and tapping his fingers on the arm of the chair impatiently. Tim noticed the blood that had dried at his lips and the dark circle around his right eye. His vibrant red hair was a mess and every once and a while he would stop tapping and run his hand through it. In his other hand, he clutched a blood stained tissue that he had used to absorb the blood that had seeped from his nose.

"Apparently these people," the blonde girl commented with a smirk causing Tim to turn to her. She sat on the opposing wall, with one leg over the other and her arms still crossed. She was a complete contrast from the redhead. While the redhead looked a mess, she looked clean and neat. Her long blonde hair was in a messy ponytail with strands falling at her neck. She was wearing a white t-shirt that said 'Half Day' in bold black letters and tan, knee-length shorts with short, black combat boots. Noticing Tim's gaze, she turned to him and, by seeing his beat up appearance, seemed to remember why they were there in the first place. "How are you two holding up? That was pretty bad back there."

"How the heck did you take that guy down?" The redhead inquired sitting up and leaning in, as if to hear a secret. "You're a girl."

She rolled her eyes, "Yeah, a girl who's been taking kick boxing since I was six."

"Wow," Tim commented. "Dedicated."

"Not really," she shrugged, leaning back in her chair and letting her hands fall to her sides. "It's just something to do."

"Thank, though, for today," Tim quickly added.

"No problem," she waved if off. "I'm Courtney by the way."

"Tim. It's nice to meet you. I think you're in some of my classes." She nodded, confirming this, before turning to the redhead who just stared back.

"What?" He inquired, annoyed.

"Your name, genius," Courtney rolled her eyes again. "What's your name?"

"Owen," he grunted after a short pause in which he glared at her.

Tim turned to Owen and offered a gratified smile, "Thanks for helping me. I would have been flattened like a bug if it wasn't for you."

"It was nothing." He seemed pleased with the prospect of being a hero to someone.

"It really was nothing," Courtney smirked earning a glare from Owen.

Suddenly the door of the discipline counselor's office slammed open and a boy emerged. He looked older than the three who were seated and ran a hand through his messy, shaggy black hair as he turned and poked his head back into the office. "See ya later, Counselor!" He turned around and flashed a Cheshire like smile to the younger kids before strolling out of the office.

"NEXT!" The three jumped up a little in their seats as they heard a loud yell, which they assumed was from the discipline counselor. For a few awkward moments, they just looked at each other, waiting for the others to stand up first. "NOW!" They jumped out of their seats and slowly made their way into the office.

"Close the door behind you."

Owen who was the last to file in, closed the door gently behind him but not all the way, just in case they need to run away if something went wrong. He grabbed the chair that was against the wall and moved it next to the other two chairs in front of the desk where Courtney and Tim were already seated. He quietly took his seat and stared at the orange haired man in front of them. As the three kids waited impatiently for the man to begin, they took in the office. There were file cabinets lining the wall and books where everywhere. On the desk, there were unruly stacks of papers, books, files, and other things but a clear spot where three files were stacked right in front of where the man sat. There was also a picture of the man in a football uniform from the University of Michigan next to a policeman who had a proud expression on his face. Next to the picture, there was a gold name plaque that had G. GARDNER engraved in bold letters.

"So, do you know why you're here?" The man spoke, his words had a sort of forced calmness in his words, like he was trying to suppress his anger and annoyance from something that happened before. That something was probably the boy who had just walked out. If the three sixth graders were smart, they would try to stay on the man's good side and be as obedient as possible. But they were kids and most of the time kids don't know any better. Or they don't care to know better and like to piss off the nearest adult.

"No," Owen said flatly, leaning back in his chair as he began to get used to the tense atmosphere.

Courtney leaned back in her chair as well, crossing her arms yet again. "All I know is that some stupid teacher shrieked at us to come here, letting the real culprit get away."

Tim kept his silence, knowing and caring to know better. He merely looked innocently at the counselor who took a deep breath to calm himself.

"You're here because you got into a fight. On school grounds."

"No!" Courtney pretended to gasp in shock. "Great detective work, Sherlock." Tim could swear that that comment made Mr. Gardner pop a vein. "Anyways, I didn't get into a fight. I was trying to stop if before those idiotic seventh graders beat the stuffing out of these two."

"We could have taken them ourselves," Owen huffed, shooting a glare at the blonde.

"Before or after you got sent to the hospital?" Courtney raised an eyebrow.

Mr. Gardner rubbed his temples and took this time to intervene before the boy could come up with a witty comeback. "How did this fight begin?"

Tim sat up straight, deciding to explain before the other two made their situation any worse than it was already. When he spoke, Mr. Gardner looked surprised as if he hadn't expected him to offer anything to the conversation. "I-um- I bumped into this seventh grader who got angry. Owen tried to help me out but the seventh grader called his friends. We were badly outnumbered and were getting pretty beat up when Courtney entered and got him to call of his goons."

Nodding, Mr. Gardner began to scribble something down onto a paper in front of him. "Do you know who the boy was?"

"No –" Owen and Courtney replied but Tim cut them off.

"Seth Blake. He was Seth Blake."

"And how did you intervene?" Mr. Gardner had turned to Courtney after giving Tim a nod, signally that he knew who he was talking about.

"I asked him nicely," Courtney explained with a smug smirk planted firmly on her lips.

"How nicely?" Mr. Gardner inquired, feeling the headache that he had gotten from his previous meeting coming back.

"Very nicely."

Mr. Gardner let out a groan, suppressing his anger and the foul language that he really wanted to use in this situation. He heard the end of fourth period bell and felt a sort of relief flood over him. "Alright, it's time for my break and I don't want to see anyone during that time. I'll look into getting Seth Blake and his friends punished. But for now, you three have afterschool detention tomorrow." The three kids let out a complaining groans. "Now get out of my office and go see what you missed in your classes."

As the three kids began to slowly get up and gather their bags, the door slammed open and a black haired boy bounced in. There was a grin on his face as he said, "Mr. GARDNER! I'm here for my biweekly appointment!"

Owen, Tim, and Courtney quickly shuffled out, pushing past the older boy as Mr. Gardner exploded. "FOR THE LAST TIME, KYLE, YOU DON'T HAVE A BIWEEKLY APPOINTMENT! NOW LEAVE ME ALONE TO ENJOY MY LUNCH IN PEACE!"

"Bur, Mr. Gardner, I need to talk about my feelings with you."

"LISTEN, KID, I DON'T CARE ABOUT YOUR DARN FEELINGS!"

As they walked down the hallway to their classrooms, the three sixth graders could still hear Mr. Gardner's tirade and shuddered at the thought of being the one that the tirade was directed towards.

They quickly forgot about Mr. Gardner and the boy that had finally made him crack and made their way in silence towards their English class room. They were surprised to enter to see their teacher sitting at her desk, trying to deep breaths, while a black haired boy, obviously older than them, began talking. Owen, Tim, and Courtney didn't seem to have been noticed by anyone as the boy continued to talk. Tim looked around to see the messy black haired boy who had exited the counselor's office before sitting on a desk, chatting with a blonde girl who was busily checking her appearance with a little compact mirror. Meanwhile, a couple of desks down, another blonde haired girl was rubbing her temples in annoyance as she glared daggers at the talking black haired boy.

"So, listen, Helena, can I call you Helena? I'll call you Helena," the boy was saying. "I really need an extension on that paper. I want to do my best and with the time allotted for it, I don't think I have. I have just been so busy with my other studies that I haven't been able to put the amount of focus that I wanted to put into it into it. Do you know what I mean?"

Ms. Bertinelli took a deep breath, "No, Jason, I do not know what you mean. But I suppose that may be because you completely lost me in your last sentence."

"What part of 'Do you know what I mean?' did you not get?" Jason inquired, raising an eyebrow. He heard his friends giggle behind them and shot them a glare to make them stop.

"Your last sentence, Jason. That was a question."

"Stop confusing me!"

"How about I give it to you straight then?" Ms. Bertinelli stood up, signaling that this was her final decision that that she wasn't going to change her mind any time soon. "I will not assign you any more time. Two weeks was plenty for this assignment."

"No it's not!" Jason argued.

"Jason, all you need to do was write a one page essay describing what you did over your summer vacation!"

"Exactly, I need at least a month to do that!"

"Jason, I have made up my mind."

"Fine!" Jason threw his hands up in the air before reaching into his back pack and pulling out a piece of lined paper. "Tommy, pen." The boy sitting on the desk reached into his pocket and pulled out a black pen and threw it at Jason who caught it with ease. With the pen, he quickly began scribbling something down on the paper with everyone else in the room watching him curiously. Exactly three minutes later, he straightened his back and smirked. "There. Done." He handed the paper to Ms. Bertinelli who carefully accepted it as if it was going to blow up in her face. "There's a one page essay on my summer. Happy?"

"Jason, it was supposed to be one-paged typed…"

"So what you're saying is you're not happy?" Jason reasoned. "Gee, woman, no wonder you're single, you're so picky and never happy!" Ms. Bertinelli's cheeks turned a pinkish color.

"Forgive him, he has a severe case of idiot," the annoyed blonde apologized as she placed a hand on Jason's shoulder, squeezing it hard to get him to shut up.

"Kara, you're hurting me!"

"Good," Kara replied, not removing her hand.

"Jason, go to Mr. Gardner's office. Now." Ms. Bertinelli ordered, her voice showing her anger. Only at this time did her students realize how scary she really could be. The problem was Jason didn't scare easy and he definitely was intimidated by his _English_ teacher.

"Yay, I get to see Mr. Gardner," Jason grinned as he managed to get Kara away from his shoulder.

"Say hi to him for me," Tommy grinned.

"Weren't you just there?" the girl next to him inquired.

"Yup, for three periods."

"Dude!" Jason high fived Tommy, "New record."

"Jason, office, now!" Ms. Bertinelli ordered, no longer patient and with every word her voice rising.

"Going, gee, don't get testy," Jason backed off as he turned towards the door. Tommy jumped off the desk and the two blonde girls came up behind him. Only then did they notice the sixth graders who had been watching them curiously. "Hey, it's the kids who got beat up. And the girl that saved them! Haha!" He left the classroom cackling and others just smirked or shook their heads and followed him out.

Ms. Bertinelli allowed herself to fall into her chair with a plop. She took a deep breath before turning to Owen, Courtney, and Tim with a forced pleasant smile. "What can I do for you?"

"We missed your class this morning due to some minor misunderstandings," Courtney explained briefly. "So we're here to see what we missed and what we need to get from you." The boys stayed silent, watching their teacher as her eyes flickered over them.

"Minor misunderstanding?" Ms. Bertinelli raised an eyebrow doubtfully as Owen sniffled, his nostrils now having dried blood in them and disabling him to breathe normally. "Are you kids going to be okay? Have you been to the nurse?"

"That's next on the agenda," Courtney informed her calmly. "Don't worry, I'll make sure these boys get to the nurse."

Ms. Bertinelli's lips curled into a smile, "I see that you have it all covered. Let me think…what did we do in class today? Oh, right, we just read our essays to the class. There's no homework for tomorrow, so you're fine."

Tim nodded slowly, absorbing this all in. "Thank you." The young woman smiled gently, accepting the gratitude.

After the other two offered their thanks, the three sixth graders exited the class room. Owen began walking down the hall, stretching his arms out as he grinned, "Come on, let's get to lunch! I'm STARVING!"

Courtney briskly walked towards him, catching up to him before placing a firm hand on his shoulder and forcibly turning him around and pushing him the other way. "No way. You can eat after you get checked up by the nurse."

"Puh," Owen scoffed, stopping and crossing his arms defiantly. "Like I'm listening to a girl. Right, Tim?" Courtney raised an eyebrow and turned to Tim with a look that dared him to agree with the redhead so that she would have an excuse to beat him up.

Tim placed his hands in front of him as if to shield himself from this matter and from the blonde girl. "Please keep me out of this," he pleaded tiredly.

Owen glared briefly at Tim before turning back his stare down with Courtney who said, "Let me remind you that my boots," she brought her right leg forward to make sure that he had noticed it, "has steel-plated soles. So you can either go to the nurse nicely or I can make you go."

Glaring for a moment long, Owen let out a defeated sigh and let his arms fall to his side. "Fine," he grumbled, "but I won't like it."

"You don't have to like it," Courtney smirked triumphantly.

"Why do you even care?" Owen demanded as he shoved his hands into his pockets. Inwardly, Tim was also curious about why the girl was helping them for no reason.

Much to their surprise, she merely shrugged, "No clue. I don't even particularly like you two –well, I don't like Owen. You're still on my good side, Tim." Tim couldn't help by smile.

"I'll take that for the compliment it was."

"Good." Courtney smiled just as a small beep went off. She glanced down at the blue watched that was fastened tightly around her thin wrist. "Got to go. I'll see you guys later."

"Thanks again," Tim gave her a small wave as she turned around and jogged briskly down the hallway and out of their sight

"Bye," Owen grumbled as well before continuing in the other direction towards the nurse's office. He suddenly stopped when he noticed that Tim wasn't coming and turned around briefly, "Are you coming or what?" His voice sounded irritated but he did smile a little at the shocked expression on Tim's face. "Come on, we don't have all day," he added before starting walk again,

He was oddly obedient even though he really didn't want to go, Tim noted before running to catch up with him. Falling in step with the redhead, he switched to a fast-paced walk. Tim also noticed that even though the other boy was dragging his feet along and slowly trudging towards his destination, he was faster than Tim was when he was walking normally. And for a brief moment, he wondered what he would have to do to keep up with the redhead if they ever became friends. Allowing that possibility to sink in, Tim couldn't help by smile a little.

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><p><strong>What do you think? So I kept the last names of the characters "secret" for now so that the reader can figure it out. But most of them are pretty obvious...I think that there might be one who's actually "hard" to guess...<strong>

**Anyways, i hoped you liked it and please review!**


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